[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Gosh, all you have to do is look at this thread to see how much effort some will go to in order to avoid admitting someone else might actually have a point or they might be in error.

I have no idea if she wears a pointy black hat and cackle. Could be, maybe she likes Harry Potter.

I really don't understand some here. Is it really impossible to discuss facts without reverting to their inter Ring Lardner ("Shut up, he explained") or resorting to mocking. Rhetoric 101 says when the facts don't back you up, then use emotion. That might impress an audience, but it doesn't make for a very rational discussion. So far, this thread has had most of the standard rhetoric devices and fallacies used. Mocking, straw man arguments and flocking. You would think that literary people would be a bit above all that.

You forgot one important fact: it is you who are doing all this (by general consensus). You are the one refusing to bring any facts to back you up.

Everyone else here has the unique pleasure of having both facts and emotion.

Barcey presented a chain of reasoning:

Originally Posted by Barcey

Wow, so she made up her mind before the trial, wrote up her decision, ignored everything that didn't match what she already decided and disregarded testimony just because it didn't match what she decided. She then went and researched what all her critics were saying and cleverly wrote rebuttals in her final decision.

I don't know but that sounds like a lot of work to me. I would have thought it'd been easier to just go through the standard trial proceeding and make the final decision after. She's some devious lady. Did she wear a pointy black hat and cackle too?

and finished by asking why anyone would think Judge Cote is quite that dedicated to sticking it to Apple. A little humor was then brought in, after the facts were presented.

Now you come along and create an emotional appeal by claiming we are all

reverting to their inter Ring Lardner ("Shut up, he explained") or resorting to mocking

Would you like to start presenting any facts or logic you may have stashed away?